A Stranger
by redarmftw
Summary: What happens to the gang when they start meeting the shinobis of the Bone Country, the newly allied country of the Land of Fire? Rated M for Violence, and possible lemons in later chapters.
1. Chapter 1

Stranger 

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Naruto characters. They belong to Masashi Kishimoto.

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"One. Kakashi Hatake."

"Two. Sakura Haruno."

"Three. Naruto Uzumaki."

Shadows moved along the trees.

It was a lovely day. The kind of day where you forget about your regrets and your sins. The sun was shining down on the forest, and there were few clouds in the sky. All that could be heard was the soft breeze, and the rustling of the leaves as they danced in the wind. Naruto stared up at the sky through the forest top with his hands behind his head as he walked on. Sakura admired the beauty of their surroundings, and Kakashi had his face glued to his Icha Icha Paradise novel as he walked. They were assigned a mission to help a farmer clean up around his farm. Kakashi was able to take a break from the S ranked assignments, as they were starting to settle down. And it really has been awhile since he went on a mission with his own group, so he took up the chance to go with them.

"Yo, Kakashi-sensei, when are you going to show us what's in that book that makes it so interesting to read all the time?" Naruto questioned.

Kakashi sighed. "Naruto, we've been over this before. When you're older. Until then stop aski- NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Kakashi cried.

Sakura and Naruto snapped to attention, thinking something was about to happen. "What's the matter Kakashi-sensei?!" Sakura questioned.

Kakashi had his head down with waterfall streams flowing. "...She...She...SHE CHOSE THE WRONG BOYFRIEND!" He held up his favorite novel and pointed at it with his other hand. Naruto and Sakura face-faulted. Kakashi's whole frame waved around while crying waterfalls. "This can't be happening oh no no nOoOoOoOooO!" Naruto lifted his head up and sighed.

Kakashi stopped suddenly and whirled around in time to scoop up Naruto and Sakura from being hit with an incoming kunai. He stopped and let down Naruto and Sakura on their feet and turned around to face the attacker.

"Eh? Sound ninja? Not wise of you to come alone." Kakashi stated. The ninja stood there with his arms crossed, staring at the trio. He was dressed in a baggy gray outfit with the usual headband protector signed with the Sound Village symbol. The ninja had two swords crossed on his back, both of them of equal size. He eyed Kakashi warily, keeping the trio in his line of sight.

"Oh? Is that so, Kakashi? "I" may be one ninja, but surely I am not alone." The Sound ninja replied, cackling. Kakashi's visible eye widened, and whirled around as a kunai sped towards him. He pushed Sakura and Naruto out of the way and dodged it. The kunai stuck into the ground where he was, and Kakashi skidded to a stop a few feet away. He heard a sizzling noise and looked down to see that an explosive tag was attached to the kunai. He was about to run to Naruto and Sakura, but he found himself trapped in a bubble. While he slid back from the kunai when it was first thrown, the first Sound ninja used that to Kakashi's weakness and used a technique to seal Kakashi in an apparently solid bubble. His eye widened and he screamed out to Sakura and Naruto.

"You two get away from there! Hurry!" Naruto and Sakura suddenly noticed the explosive tag, but they didn't have the reflexes to move away in time. It exploded, sending them both crashing into the trees. Naruto hit the tree first and saw this his eyes Sakura fly at him. The back of her head hit his head, causing his head to hit the tree behind him. Sakura cried and out slumped sideways to the ground, unconscious, as was Naruto. Four other Sound ninja stepped out into the path, accompanying the first appearing Sound ninja.

"Damnit.." Kakashi cursed himself for not avoiding the obvious trap. He looked at his attackers and frowned. "Five Sound ninja eh? What do you want with us?" The Sound ninja that had his hand to Kakashi's back, thus sealing him, spoke.

"We were sent by Orochimaru as scouts, to see if the news was true."

"News?" Kakashi replied.

"We heard that the Bone Country allied with this Fire Country recently and were sent to investigate. It concerns Orochimaru because the Bone Country has some of the worlds top class assassins. But, while we saw you and the fox brat, why not just get rid of you guys and the girl to prevent future complications?" The group of Sounds started laughing together. Kakashi cursed himself again. "This bubble will begin to collapse, and you will be crushed. It is made purely out of sound waves, and will not break. You will die in a very painful manner." They continued to laugh together, looking forward to Kakashi's death. The Sound ninja closest to the bushes was caught off-guard when a hand went over his mouth and a kunai went through his stomach. The attacker ripped his kunai out through the side of his victim, and let the body fall. The attacker retreated from his current position before the ninja's body hit the ground. The group of now four ninja looked over.

"Hey, what's the matter? Too scared to watch someone die?" They mocked the now dead corpse who was on his stomach. A Sound ninja walked over and used his foot to roll the Sound ninja over, displaying his intestines to the group.

"What the hell?! Who did this?!" The leader of the squad yelled. The group argued among themselves, waking a very sore Naruto up from his sleep.

"Damn...my head is killing me...what...happened.." Naruto brought his arm up and rubbed his forehead. He then noticed that Sakura was down on the ground in front of him, and suddenly remembered the events that had happened. 'An explosion...urrgghh.." He looked up to see Kakashi in a now descending bubble, and looked down to see Sakura knocked unconscious.

"You bastards...You hurt Sakura...and you DARE attempt to kill my sensei?" He growled loudly. The group stopped bickering and looked over to see a now pissed off Naruto rise up from his sitting position, looking at the ground. A red flare of chakra spiked around him, sending waves of energy out. He looked up and revealed his red, slit eyes to the group along with his fangs and deeper whiskers. "I will never forgive you.."

A hand suddenly came out of the bushes among the trees and patted Naruto on the shoulder. Naruto whirled around to see a figure come out of the bushes.

"There's no need for that now, Naruto. Save it for later. Let me do the work." A light voice said. Naruto looked up at the new figure with uncertainty. The surprise of the figure coming out, and curiosity flowing in, made him able to regain his normal senses.

"W-Who are you? How do you know my name?" Naruto asked. He wasn't sure if he was a friend or foe, so he kept a wary eye on the figure's actions.

"I'm Njaal from the Bone Country." Njaal was a teenager that looked 16 or 17, and looked to be five foot and six inches or so. He had a muscular build to him, his muscles visible through the black sleeveless vest that he wore. He had spikey, black hair that was longer than Naruto's, with two strands of thick hair arching forward. His forehead protector was wrapped around his eyes, and the symbol of the Bone Country was carved into the middle of the protector. The symbol of the Bone Country was ordinary. Just a regular X. Covering the teen's nose, mouth, chin, and neck though, was a very long black scarf (long like the PS game Shinobi's scarf) that was swaying in the wind. His sash was tied, keeping his black baggy pants (little less baggier than MC Hammer baggy) up. He sported some heavy thick leather black boots that tucked the baggy pants in.

"Ah, so it looks like the information we were given was true. Unfortunately for you, we're going to have to kill the Bone Country's shinobi, starting with yourself." A Sound ninja chuckled. The Sound ninja dashed at Njaal with a kunai out. Njaal put up his two pointing fingers and tapped them together, making a dull noise echo out. He grinned under his scarf and waited till the opportune time. The Sound ninja came up and lunged the kunai at his target, but was stopped as Njaal's hand lunged out and grabbed the Sound ninja's wrist.

"What the...What are you?! How did you see me with that band over your eyes?" The ninja yelled. He attempted to land a punch with his other hand, but it too was intercepted by Njaal's other hand. Njaal shrugged and merely chuckled. He then disappeared and reappeared behind the ninja and put his right hand over his left fist. The doomed ninja gawked and whirled around. Njaal then used his right hand to double the force of his left arm and drove his left elbow into the ninja's chest. The sound of his ribs cracking were audible. The ninja doubled over screaming, and fell to the ground in agony. Njaal then squatted down and looked upon the ninja.

"Heheh, that's the thing. I don't see." He stated. Njaal lifted his hand and pulled the headband protector up, revealing not eyes, but empty sockets. The sound ninja on the ground looked up at them in horror. There was something in those sockets, something that couldn't be controlled. He felt like the shadows of the holes in Njaal's eye sockets were over taking his body. Fear consumed the Sound ninja. He screamed his lungs out, begging for mercy or for some kind of relief. After a few screams though, the ninja stopped suddenly. He slumped over, dead. The ninja had swallowed his own tongue from the fear that devoured him. Naruto was struck with fear also, and shivered uncontrollably. Njaal noticed this and waved his hand at Naruto. "Sorry, sorry Naruto-kun!" He reached up and lowered the headband down back over his eyes and walked over to pat Naruto on the shoulder. "You shouldn't have seen that yet, I apologize." Naruto gulped and slid down the tree to a sitting position.

"Please...Please help my sensei." Naruto whispered while staring at the ground. Njaal nodded and turned around to face the three remaining ninja. The one who had Kakashi trapped in the bubble fidgeted nervously.

"You two! Go! Kill him now!" He ordered. The two Sound ninja looked back at him, then looked at Njaal and gulped nervously.

"H-Hai!" They both charged. Njaal chuckled to himself. He put his arms down by his side and concentrated some chakra into his forearms. Njaal then brought his arms forward, and swung them above him, releasing two bone scythes from his underarms. The scythes protruded from his underarm, and were attached to him from his elbow to the beginning of his wrist. The were as thick as his forearms, and reached out about three feet. Njaal seemed to grin under his scarf and brought his arms back down. He crossed his arms in front of him, and tapped the two scythes together, resulting in a dull echoing sound. Kakashi looked on at Njaal in wonder.

'Oh? Echolocation huh? I have heard there was a band of shinobi that rid themselves of their eyes, and trained to make their other senses even stronger. Hearing, smelling, even tasting. But I thought that was a myth.' Kakashi wondered in the bubble. Over time the bubble has been descending slowly but surely. He was now forced to sit with his body bent forward to stay in a comfortable position.

The two charging Sound ninja were surprised when they saw the bones protrude out, but they were shinobi. They couldn't stop for anything. The first Sound ninja thew four shuriken at his target. They raced speedily towards Njaal, but Njaal had heard the spinning hum of the Shuriken as soon as they were deployed. He concentrated his thoughts and pinpointed the sound. He brought up his arms and deflected the shurikens with his scythes, leaving an opening for the Sound ninja to take.

"Die you freak!" He growled. The ninja was upon Njaal, pulling out a kunai to finish the assassination.

Time seemed to slow for Naruto as he watched what happened.

The first Sound ninja was leaping towards Njaal with the kunai in his hands. The second Sound ninja was going sideways away from Njaal, for he saw what was about to happen. Njaal grinned to himself, and the blood sprayed everywhere. The attacking Sound ninja grunted in pain and bit his lip as blood flowed out of his mouth. He looked down to see that a bone was jutting out from under Njaal's baggy pants, where his kneecap should be, like a spear into the ninja. The bone had hit right in his side, and was digging into and through the Sound. It had pierced the other side and jutted out with pieces of flesh hanging upon it. Naruto looked on in amazement as the bone whipped back through the ninja where it had came from and headed back to Njaal's knee. Njaal placed his hand on the bone as it came down, cleaning it of flesh and blood until it was secured back in its place.

The second Sound ninja stood in shock at how quickly the counter attack was made. But before he could say or do anything, Njaal turned and swung at the ninja who was a good fifteen feet away. The bone scythe on his underarm stretched out as Njaal swung and caught the ninja across the stomach, spilling his insides onto the ground. The ninja coughed up blood and fell to the ground dead. Njaal sighed and looked to the last Sound remaining.

"I can control my bones however I please with my chakra." Njaal answered the unasked question of the Sound. He sighed again and shrugged. "It's troublesome, but I don't want to risk getting Kakashi Hatake in the way...And i'm too lazy to walk over to you," at this Naruto sweatdropped.

'He's just like Shikamaru' Naruto thought while watching.

"Sooooo," Njaal continued, "WILL YOU PLEASE LET KAKASHI GO AND GO AWAY BACK TO YOUR COUNTRY?!" Njaal pulled his scarf down and gave the Sound a big smile while putting up his thumb. Naruto face-faulted and twitched.

'Anything but the Gai signature' Naruto's mind screamed. Kakashi sweatdropped.

The Sound ninja gulped nervously and released the bubble that Kakashi was trapped in. Before anyone could do anything though, the Ninja was speeding off down the path with a trail of dust and debris flying up behind him. Njaal's whole body waved as he praised the Sound. "Ariggaattttooooooo!" he yelled after him. Kakashi looked over at Njaal with his one eye and suddenly felt the chakra that Njaal contained. It was massive in some words. Njaal body stopped waving and he turned to Kakashi. "Are you alright, Kakashi?"

"Hai...Well now, it would seem that the news surely IS true of the allied Country." Kakashi replied, scratching the back of his head with his hand as he closed his visible eye. Njaal face-faulted and twitched several times.

"You mean..You..a Jounin..didn't hear the news?" Njaal twitched. Kakashi laughed nervously.

"Well...I've been busy with some studying and uh, stuff like that so I rarely hear the news." He opened his eye to see Njaal holding his Icha Icha Paradise book with one hand and pointing at it with the other.

"Oh?" Njaal said. Kakashi grabbed it before he could do anything and twirled around with it in his arms. He had waterfall streams of tears flowing as he spun around praising the book.

"I THOUGHT I LOST YOU MY PRECIOUS!" Kakashi exclaimed. Njaal sighed and turned around to Naruto and Sakura. He walked over and kneeled down by Sakura, shaking her gently to wake her. Sakura mumbled something and opened her eyes to see a Njaal's nearly covered face.

"H..Huh?" She murmured.

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto happily exclaimed and sat by her. "You missed it Sakura-chan! We were saved by this guy! It was crazy!" Naruto grinned. Sakura propped herself up and shook her head.

"What happened?" She questioned. "And who are you?" She asked Njaal.

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:OOOO

R&R!

I plan on making a lot of chapters to this story. I'm going to need your guys ideas though. :P

my email is or my AIM is royalcandy420 if you want to chat.

Next chapter should be up within a week or so! Don't miss out!


	2. Chapter 2

Stranger 2

Answering a question, the setting is a few weeks after Naruto gets back from his two year training with Jiraiya. Naruto, Sakura, and Hinata are all still Genins. Shikamaru and Neji are Jounins. Rest are Chuunins.

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Njaal's smile was noticable through the black scarf that wrapped around his lower face.

"Yo. I'm Njaal from the Bone Country. I'm too lazy to go into details about me for now." He scratched the back of his head. "What're you guys doing out here?" He questioned. Sakura was about to answer until she saw Kakashi approaching. Njaal turned at the sound of Kakashi's footsteps coming closer and waved. Kakashi gave a bow to Njaal and returned to his standing position.

"I apologize about the trouble Njaal. They attacked repeatedly and I didn't have time to raise my forehead protector." (if someone knows the term for this, please email it to me. I don't want to keep typing it out.) Kakashi stated. Njaal chuckled a bit.

"Ah yes, your Sharingan, I nearly forgot." Njaal shrugged. "As for the trouble, it's no big deal. I felt like helping to meet the famous Uzumaki Naruto, carrier of the Kyuubi." Naruto let out an 'eep' and pointed at Njaal.

"H-How do you know about that?!" He yelled. Njaal turned around and waved his hands down a few times in a 'calming' way.

"Who doesn't know these days? Word spreads like fire. It's been awhile since anyone has spoken of it in the Bone Country though." Njaal seemed to remember something. "Oh yes! I shouldn't keep you waiting. You guys are on a mission. How about I accompany you three to your destination, and then go back to Konohagakure with you? I'm suppose to tell the Hokage, Tsunade, that us Bone shinobi are now patrolling the Fire Country to keep enemy Shinobi at bay, but I would love to hear about your abilities." Njaal exclaimed enthusiastically. Kakashi and Naruto gave a nod, while Sakura, for the first time, saw Njaal's forehead protector over his eyes.

"Njaal-kun, why do you have your forehead protector over your eyes? You won't be able to fight like that." Sakura said. At this, Naruto and Kakashi sweatdropped, remembering his fight. And then Naruto remembered the feeling of dread and killer intent coming from the gaping holes where his eyes should have been. He shivered a bit and coughed, looking away. Njaal noticed this and put his hand on Sakura's shoulder.

"I knew I said that I don't want to go into details about me right now, but I guess i'll tell you something. I am part of the Jata (Jate-uh) clan. The Jata clan's children are raised with a blindfold over their eyes as they train with their sensei. This allows them to sharpen their senses from the lack of one. Hearing, smelling...you get the point. They're increased from the loss of one sense. After they're proven strong by their sensei, they undergo a ritual that removes their eyes out of their head." At this Sakura blanched and twitched a bit.

"So...under that forehead protector of yours..there's-"

"Nothing." Njaal stated. "But, it's not permanent. Excuse me while I do this." Njaal then reached into a small pouch on the side of his waist and extracted something. He turned his back on the three and raised his hands to his face, lifting the forehead protector. There were series of odd noises, but when he turned back around, his forehead protector was on his forehead, and he surprisingly had eyes! They looked exactly like normal human eyes. They were a rich hazel color and seemed to pierce directly into your soul. "Ta-da!" he exclaimed. He then took a long look at Sakura and Naruto for the first time. He noticed the whisker marks on Naruto and nodded, confirming to himself that this was the Kyuubi carrier.

Naruto and Sakura were locked in his gaze. The color mixed with the emotions of his eyes were stunning. They seem to hold a variety of different emotions. Happy, Sad, Anger, and a few others. Kakashi was surprised. He knew about the Jata clan, but he never knew that they could reattach their eyes in their sockets. He then noticed that the sun was lowering, making the sky a violet color mixed with light blue.

"Yo, if we want to accomplish our mission anytime soon, we should start moving. We've only got a mile or so to go." He stated. He then turned to Njaal. "If you wish to come with us, then you're more than welcome to. We'll be back to Konohagakure by tomorrow evening." Njaal nodded and moved over to a bush on the side of the path. He pulled out a long white coat that had longsleeves (Coats that the Captains of Soul Society wear in Bleach) and put it on. He then came back over to the three and pointed down the long winding path.

"Onward! Your mission must be a success no matter how dangerous and life threatening it is!"

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Njaal sighed and took off his white coat, putting it to the side of the farm field, then grunted and remembering what their job was.

They had gotten to their mission destination the night before, but it was too late to do the work so they stayed at a spare house that was for sale by the owner of the mission. The place wasn't located in a village, but just open country. The owner of the mission was a farmer and told them that they could start work tomorrow when the sun was up. The four shinobi nodded and took to the house that the farmer made temporarily theirs. Each one of them were tired, but they stayed up in the living room of the house, telling Njaal of their funny memories and tales, besides Kakashi. He sat in the corner and read his Icha book. Sakura and Naruto told him of their abilities and how they learned it. Sakura had to bash Naruto over the head with her fist to stop him from making a Rasengan to show Njaal. They also told him sadly about Sasuke and how he ran away to Orochimaru for more power. They seemed to stop talking after that, and Njaal understood. He suggested that they go to sleep to get rest for the work tomorrow and the walk home. They nodded and went their seperate ways to their rooms while Kakashi stayed in the living room and read his book. Njaal got up, nodded to Kakashi who nodded back, and went to his room and slept.

They woke up around Eleven AM and went out to see what the work that they needed to do was.

"Fill up these buckets with water from that well over there, and water my plants." The farmer stated after meeting with them. He then put the buckets he was carrying down and walked back to his house, leaving an exasperated Naruto and a sighing Sakura. Njaal also sighed, then remembered his mission to tell the Hokage his information. He grinned and picked up two buckets. Naruto and Sakura looked at him with surprise.

"Well, the faster we get this done, the faster I can report to the Hokage." He said. Sakura and Naruto grinned and turned around to Kakashi, who was reading his book behind them.

"Kakashi-sensei! Can Njaal-kun help us pleaaasssseeeee?" Both of them said. They even had the pouting faces on with the puppy eyes. Kakashi looked at him with his visible eye and sighed.

"Alright, sure. Just get it done." Kakashi said.

A shadow moved in the threes across the dirt path in front of them. Kakashi and Njaal turned to it, waiting for an enemy to attack. Three kunai launched out at the group, namely Njaal who was to the side of the group. As fast as an eye, Njaal molded some chakra together. A long, skinny tube like bone shot out of the under arm part of his wrist and into his hand. He twirled it like a staff, moving it so fast that the three kunai bounced right off of what seemed like air because of the extremely fast spinning of the bone spear/staff thing that Njaal had produced. Njaal then took aim and hurled it into the woods, making it look like a spear. Nothing made a sound. Njaal stood there, waiting for something to happen, as did Naruto, Sakura, and Kakashi. A figure emerged from the bushes in front of them and stopped on the path. The figure looked almost identical to Njaal, the same black baggy pants, same black vest, and even the same white coat that Njaal had. But this figure had a white hood over his head, hiding his entire head in the shadows of the hood. Njaal sighed and slumped. Naruto and the others looked at him, wondering what was going on. Njaal then pointed at the new figure with waterfall tears flowing down his face.

"DON'T SCARE ME LIKE THAT AGAIN! I HATE IT WHEN YOU DO THAT!" He yelled, still pointing an accusing finger. The figure seemed to shake a bit, as in laughing, but no sound was made. Njaal then stomped over to him, and then turned around to the group. "Yo, go ahead and start on the work. After a chat with this guy i'll help you out." Naruto and Sakura exchanged looks as if saying 'what's going on?', but then shrugged and started to work. Kakashi noticed the coat that the figure wore and relaxed, going back to reading his book and occasionally watching Naruto and Sakura work.

Njaal then turned back around to the new figure and pouted a bit. "What the hell was that for?!" He asked about the three kunai, tapping his foot. The figure just shrugged.

"I just wanted to make sure you weren't slacking in your battle reflexes, dear brother." A calm, cool voice replied. Njaal sighed and crossed his arms.

"Gee, how heart warming. You care about me. You know, you don't always have to do that, Jaiken." He replied. A moment of silence overcame the two. Jaiken's hood turned towards Naruto.

"Is that him?" Jaiken asked. Njaal looked over at Naruto and nodded.

"Yeah, that's him. The Kyuubi container." Njaal replied. A wind picked up, blowing Njaal's scarf around, still hiding his lower face. It died down, and Njaal turned back to Jaiken. "Don't worry brother, nothing's going to happen to him. Not while i'm here." His eyes then changed, and Jaiken guessed that Njaal was smiling.

"Good. The Chuunin Exams start in a week. You're going to enlist. You're still only a Genin of the Bone Country, after all." Jaiken stated. Njaal slumped and grouched a bit.

"Yeah yeah, I know. You don't have to rub it in. My stupid team always got caught cheating and we never made it to the Stage 2 of the Exams." Njaal grumbled a bit. Jaiken audibly chuckled and started to go back into the forest, only to be stopped by a "Hey!" of Njaal. He turned around and Njaal guessed he was looking at him. "Thanks for checking up on me, brother."

Jaiken stood there for a few seconds, before turning back around and walking back into the forest. Njaal looked after him for a bit, then turned around and ran to where he left his two buckets. Naruto and Sakura were halfway into the field, pouring a bit of water on each plant from the bucket before moving onto the next. They turned to see Njaal walk over to them with his buckets full of water and greeted him.

"Njaal-kun, who was that guy just now?" Sakura asked, looking to where she saw Jaiken.

"Ah, don't pay attention to his attack. He's my brother. He just likes to mess around with me most of the time." Njaal stated. He then twitched and shook his head. "He creeps me the hell out though. I've only seen his face two times from that hood he wears in all my years of knowing him."

Naruto and Sakura twitched and looked at Njaal.

"Does he keep to himself a lot?" Naruto asked. Njaal sighed and looked at Naruto.

"More than Sasuke from what you guys told me. He does show SOME emotion though, which I always like to see." Njaal said. He then began to water each plant. "Grr..This is too slow. Watch this!" He then tipped his bucket a little bit, holding it to his waist with his hand, letting some water flow out, while the other bucket was on his shoulder as he held that with his other hand. He began to zip through the rows of plants, switching the bucket when it got empty, till he was at the end. Sakura and Naruto just twitched and sweatdropped, looking down at the ground while Njaal danced around. Naruto and Sakura went back and emptied their buckets back into the well and put them down on the side of the farmers house, and went up and collected the payment from the farmer. By the time they got back, Njaal was standing by Kakashi with his coat back on. Kakashi looked at Naruto and Sakura, turned around, and started walking down the path.

"Well, let's get back to town then." He said loud enough for the three left behind to hear. Njaal looked back at Naruto and Sakura and nodded. He too started to follow Kakashi, and Naruto and Sakura followed him. Njaal looked up to the near cloudless sky, and sighed.

Soon it would be time to meet the short-tempered woman known as Tsunade. 


	3. Chapter 3

Stranger 3 

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Naruto smiled as a familiar site came closer. The cities gates. They were quite a ways away, but they could see it in the distance.

"YEAH! I can't wait to get some ramen!" He cheered, punching the air above him victoriously as he and his team-mates walked. Sakura sighed and rubbed her forehead.

"Oi, Naruto. You really should start eating something besides ramen. It's not that healthy and all." Sakura mumbled. Naruto twitched and looked at her, as if she had grown a second head. He was just about to tell her to go mind her own business when a voice interrupted.

"Oh? What is...Ramen?"

Naruto had nearly died. He turned around slowly to see Njaal with a confused look plastered on his face. He had long ago tucked his scarf under his neck instead of having it over his face, mumbling something about breathing fresh air. Njaal noticed the stare that Naruto was sending him and became slightly nervous under his penetrating gaze.

"Eh? Do I have something on my face?" He said. He tried to look onto his face, crossing his eyes in the process. Kakashi, standing next to Njaal, sweatdropped.

_'He reminds me of a younger Naruto...'_ Kakashi thought, then molded his favorite book to his face once again. Sakura grumbled something and looked at Njaal

"Now you got him started." She sighed out. Njaal scratched the back of his head and was about to ask her what she meant when he noticed Naruto had stopped walking in front of him, making Njaal stop. He also noticed that Naruto had his head down, and was obviously trembling violently. Njaal was about to ask him what was wrong when Naruto's head shot up, rivers of tears flowing down his face as his cheeks puffed out. He looked like someone who was holding their breath for a long time, anxious to breathe in the sweet air. Njaal raised a quizzical eye at the sight and was about to ask what was wrong again, when Naruto yelled.

"RAMEN IS THE GREATEST FOOD THAT YOU WILL EVER TASTE!" He shouted to the world, making Njaal sweatdrop. Naruto reached out snatched Njaal's arm, planning on dragging him to the Ichiraku ramen stand to have him try ramen for the very first time in his life, when Njaal's eyes widened. He kicked Naruto back a good few feet, making Sakura and Kakashi stop and turn around from walking. No more than a second that Naruto was kicked away from him and his grasp left his arm, bones shot out where his hand was like shrapnel out of an explosion, but were still connected with Njaal's arm. Kakashi and his students went wide eyed, staring at the razor sharp points of the spear-like bones protruding out. Sakura blanched noticeably, and Naruto stared with a shocked look plastered onto his face. Njaal sighed and focused some chakra, making the bones disappear back into his arms. He mentally cursed the holes now in the sleeve of his coat, but thanked his clan's ability for the bones not to make holes in the skin.

"I'm sorry, Naruto-kun." Njaal stated while looking away. Naruto finally found his voice and managed to talk out.

"W..What was that, Njaal-sama?" He asked, silently thanking Njaal that he had kicked him away just in time. Njaal sighed and lifted his hands up, gazing down at the crevices in them. He wondered when he could put a stop to this...that man...

"It is...a curse...a curse that someone evil put on me when I was young." He stated, hoping his will would push the tears away that were not gathering in his eyes. He clenched his fists and looked at his knuckles.

"Ten years ago..."

**(FLASHBACK)**

_"Njaal-kun! Wait for me!" A feminine voice yelled. The wind blew gently across the land much to Njaal's relief, cooling his skin from the heat of training. He stood ontop of a hill that had a lovely view of his entire village, giving him a chill from the beauty. Today was the best day in his life. He finally had been taught how to manipulate his skeleton frame in the way of the Jata clan. His sensei was surprised that he was able to learn it in only a few weeks, making Njaal's pride rise even higher. And ontop of that, he finally graduated from the Ninja Academy. He sighed happily as he strapped the protector over his forehead and grinned._

_Njaal's father knew that his son was unique from the moment he was born. Njaal was, as most people would say, a fighting prodigy. When Njaal was born, he already had a decent amount of chakra available to him, shocking the village. No child was supposed to have chakra until they were AT LEAST eight years old. But Njaal already had it, and a good amount of it too. This, obviously, got him respect from most of the villagers as a few years went by._

_As soon as Njaal was four, his father started to train him in the art of Taijutsu, much to the disapproval of his mother. His father ignored her though, and kept training him. Njaal steadily increased his knowledge and fighting abilities as the years grew. He was happy that his father was taking time out of his own day to help him become stronger. His father had enlisted him in the Ninja Academy when he was six, bribing the Sensei into accepting him as a student in his class. Normally a child would have to wait until they're ten to enlist, but the Jata clan was wealthy, and his father knew better than to wait. Besides, Njaal was more than happy to begin a career as a ninja._

_On his first day at the Academy, the class was baffled that a six year old was in a ten year old or older class. Njaal ignored them and sat in a seat in one of the middle rows, towards the end of the row by a wall. He noticed that he kept getting stared at by his class mates, and was getting slightly irritated. After a period of time, he relaxed hoping that everyone got their chance to see the six year old. He was listening intently to the sensei when he felt a tap on his back. He turned around to see a cute brunette with hair down to her shoulder. The tone of her tan skin told him that she was born with it, and didn't develop it. Her eyes were big and wide with excitement, and thats when he noticed the color of them. Red. Red like fire. He gazed into them, feeling himself get lost in the inferno. He broke out of his trance when she waved a hand in front of his face and giggled quietly when he jumped in shock._

_"Hi, my name is Munoki. Nice to meet you." She whispered. Njaal turned back around slightly to make sure that his sensei was still busy writing on the chalk board before he turned around again._

_"I'm Njaal. It's nice to meet you too." He whispered back. She beamed at him and leaned closer._

_"How come you're able to be in this class? The sensei said you were six. Everyone else had to wait until they were ten to enlist." Munoki questioned, looking thoughtfully at the kid in front of her. The question made Njaal grin sheepishly and scratch the back of his head._

_"I guess it's just because my clan-" He cut off before he was about to say 'is wealthy' and continued, with a big grin, "thinks i'm that good!" Munoki lifted her hand and giggled into it, hoping the sensei wouldn't hear them. This caused Njaal to grin even bigger._

_Throughout the class, when the sensei wasn't looking, they'd talk to eachother. They told jokes, much to the others displeasure because they were in class, stories, and information about themselves. Sure, they got weird looks from the other class mates, but they didn't care._

_When class was dismissed, they walked together outside. They continued to talk with eachother, street (A/N: no, not our current streets. pathways that villages had back then) until they got to Munoki's house. She thanked him for the wonderful talk with a beaming smile before waving and running to her house. Njaal smiled back at her and ran home, happy as can be. He knew he couldn't tell his father though. He knew what he would say._

_-  
A year went by.  
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_"Njaal-kun! Wait for me!" Munoki yelled.The sun was beginning to set as Njaal stared towards the horizon. He turned around to Munoki and smiled greatly at her as she approached. Her hair had grown down a little past her shoulders, and she had grown a bit. But her eyes were still filled with an inferno of emotion and color. Munoki was about fifteen feet away before Njaal became a blur and was hugging her before she knew what happened. Once realization dawned on her, she blushed profusely but managed to hug him back._

_"I did it Munoki-chan! My clan's ability! I'm able to do some of it now!" He said excitedly. He heard Munoki gasp and felt her lean back to look at him. Njaal saw pure happiness displayed across her face, and she was smiling one of her great smiles._

_"That's amazing Njaal-kun! Let me see let me see!" She exclaimed. He nodded and stepped back, and began to focus chakra into his hand. Munoki looked on in anticipation as she saw his fingers curl and uncurl repeatedly. Then suddenly, bones protruded out of his fingers. They werent big, considering his age and he just learned how to do it, but it was impressive. She let out a squeal and clapped. "That's so cooooool!" She said, making him blush and scratch the back of his head with his left hand. She then remembered something and gave another smile. "Congratulations on graduating Njaal-kun! I knew you could do it!" Munoki said. Njaal brightened and noticed her protector around her waist. She was wearing a beautiful white kimono, with red flowers spread over it._

_"You too! That's awesome!" They sat down on the hill and talked for awhile, enjoying eachothers company. That is until a voice shouted out._

_"Munoki! Time for supper!" Munoki's mother, from what Njaal guessed, rang out. Munoki sighed and stood up._

_"I have to go, but we can play together tomorrow, right?" Munoki asked with a hopeful expression on her face. Njaal looked up in surprise and smiled even wider than Munoki usually does._

_"Of course! I'll come by and get you." He said. Munoki beamed. Before she knew what she was doing, she leaned down and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek before running toward home with a blush staining her cheeks._

_Njaal sat there, absolutely stunned. He slowly reached up and touched the spot on his cheek where he felt her lips. He smiled brightly and began to race home, looking forward to tomorrow._

_-------------------------------------_

_Njaal hummed happily to himself as he walked down the road to his house. He silently hoped his father wasn't worried about him being out so late. He visibly brightened when he saw his house appear out of the corner. Njaal was almost to his house when he felt someone grab him from behind, and a thud sounded as the person knocked him unconscious._

_------------------------------------_

_Kuro, Njaal's father, and Mineki, Njaal's mother, gaped at the note he read, which was stuck to the door._

_To the Parents of Njaal_

_We have taken him as a prisoner for his unusual chakra amount. If you want him back alive, collect your clan's most precious heirloom and meet us at the abandoned tower to the west._

_You have thirty minutes before he's executed._

_Kuro looked at his wife. "Go, gather the amulet and get suited for combat. I fear we don't have enough time to travel to the clan head quarters to alert them. It'll just have to be us." He stated before running off to put on his battle attire._

_Mineki fought the tears back in her eyes as she raced towards the armory, suiting herself with her armor and weapons. She then went to the living room and pulled out a chest from behind a painting. With a satisfying click of an unlock, she opened it and gathered the heirloom before throwing the chest to the side. She met with Kuro in front of the door, and they nodded to eachother, before going out into the night, to the west._

_------------------------------------_

_Njaal opened his eyes groggily. The first thing he noticed was someone standing in front of him, but he couldn't see their face because whoever it was had scrolls in front of them. He then noticed that he was hanging on a wall, chains strapped to his wrist from above. He tried, but failed to move his arms. It was like the chains were stuck to the wall. Njaal looked around and noticed it was dark, being lit by a few candles. He looked at the person in front of him and gulped nervously before speaking._

_"W-Where am I? Who are y-you?" He stuttered, cursing how weak his voice sounded. He waited a moment, trying to find a response. He was about to ask again when laughter fluttered from the person before him._

_"Don't worry about that. You're in...good hands." The, now apparent, man said with an emotionless tone. Njaal wasn't satisfied._

_"Tell me what you plan to do with me!" He huffed. "My mom and dad are going to look for me as soon as they noticed i'm gone!"_

_This caused more laughter to spill forth from the man, the scrolls held in front of him shaking slightly._

_"Kid, I told them where you are. They're on their way right now." He said. Njaal smiled at this. "But, you won't be alive to go with them." At this Njaal blanched and his eyes widened considerably. "Well, technically you'll be alive. But your mind won't be. You see, you're going to be my puppet. That chakra of yours is amazing kid. I'm going to use it for my own benefit. You're going to be a killing machine for me." Before Njaal could even speak, the man spoke some words fast, making the scrolls float in the air in front of Njaal. Once they were in place, Njaal heard him doing handsigns._

_"Eagle, Fox, Eagle, Ox, Fish, Fox." He finished. He then sighed and spoke again. " Kid, it'll hurt. But it'll make your clan ability have a mind of it's own." (A/N: Dunno if those seals are real or not. lol) He said. The scrolls spun vertically, going faster and faster in front of Njaal. His eyes widened as they came closer to him, and he began to struggle with the chains binding him as tears welled up._

_"I-I can't die yet! I don't want to!" He struggled more, tears were now streaming down his face. "MOMMY! DADDY!" His mind flashed to Munoki. His friend. His only real friend. All the others thought he was weird for having chakra at birth, and avoided him most of the time. "I CAN'T DIE! I LOVE MUNOKI-CHAN!" He screamed. The scrolls then stopped suddenly. Njaal, thinking it was over, gasped, being happy._

_Suddenly the scrolls shot forth, entering his body through his stomach._

_Njaal wanted to die._

_The pain. The pain was absolutely unbearable. It felt like someone was cutting through his stomach with a pair of scissors, and were unraveling his insides. He scrunched his eyes shot as tears shot forth. It hurt so bad that he couldn't even make a sound. Not even a whimper._

_Footsteps._

_The man who activated the scroll turned around to see Kuro and Mineki enter. He put up his hand to signal them to stop before they came any closer. Kuro and Mineki immediately saw their son in obvious anguish. Njaal still had his eyes closed in pain and didn't see them enter._

_"The heirloom." The man demanded. Mineki looked to Kuro, who gave a nod, before she reached into her pouch and pulled out the amulet. She tossed it to the man who caught it with ease._

_"Give us our son back! Now!" Kuro demanded. He was startled when the man gave a nod. Thinking it was to free their son, both of them relaxed a bit. Wrong choice. Hands wrapped around their waist with a grip of one hundred men. They struggled to get free, kicking or hitting, but to no avail. They didn't hit anything. Hands then reached up and grabbed their wrists and grabbed their ankles, holding them in place. The man who captured Njaal snickered._

_"To be captured by my clones. It's a shame." He walked closer to them before stopping a foot away. He sighed. "I'm afraid your son is no longer yours. He's mine now." He reached into his pouch to produce two seals. "It's a shame. I thought that Njaal-kun's parents would at least be able to let me have some fun. Oh well."_

_Kuro grunted. It was hard, with the grip around his stomach, but he managed to mutter out. "You bastard." The man smirked._

_"I'll enjoy this." He put the seals he produced out of his pouch onto the chest of Kuro and Mineki and walked away back to Njaal. He then whispered to him. "Look Njaal. Your parents are here to get you." Njaal's eyes opened widely at those words, and looked to see his parents being held captive by the clones._

_"Mommy...Daddy..." He whispered. He saw something attached to them, but he couldn't quite make it out._

_A snap of a finger._

_The explosive seals started to sizzle. Njaal's eyes widened as he realized what they were. "MOMMY! DADDY!" He looked over at the man beside him. "STOP IT! PLEASE STOP IT!" He screamed._

_Kuro looked over at his wife, looking into her eyes._

_"I'm sorry."_

_The seals went off, making a giant explosion. Njaal stopped doing everything at that point. He just watched the smoke, with wide eyes. He couldn't say anything. He couldn't do anything. He could just sit there, and watch as the smoke cleared away, revealing a large crater with nothing remaining. The man spoke to Njaal._

_"Starting tonight, your emotions will be erased. Love will be executed. You will never feel the satisfying comfort of someone holding you with their love." The man snorted. "Love. What a thing to get in the way of a shinobi. It's useless." The man stopped speaking as he felt pulses from Njaal's body waver off. He quirked an eyebrow and stepped back a foot._

_"I'll kill you..." Njaal whispered out. The man suddenly starting backing up fast. "I'LL KILL YOU!"_

_"GUARDS! GET IN HERE!" The man shouted. No faster than a blink of an eye, a squad of ninja were in front of him, protecting him from Njaal. Suddenly, the scrolls were spit back out of Njaal's skin, flying to the ground. One of the ninja picked it up and took it to the man, who yanked it out of his hand. Upon investigation, his eyes widened. "Impossible...He took it all in, and he isn't mentally dead. His chakra must have refused it..." He shook his head. "This can't be."_

_"You'll all die." Whispered Njaal._

(END FLASHBACK)

"After I said that, I blacked out. I can't remember anything after that. But when I came to, I was standing in front of countless body parts, gripping my heirloom amulet. I believe whoever it was that captured me escaped, and I can't help but think that i'll never see him again. Like your friend Sasuke, I am what they would call, an Avenger." He was holding the heirloom out, showing that it was a disk attached to a chain which made a necklace. The disk was the size of the middle of someone's palm. In the middle was a circle, and at the top, bottom, left and right, were triangles. The top of the triangle pointing at the circle in the middle.

"No one is able to touch me after what that man did. As you saw earlier when you grabbed me, that is the result. The scrolls made my bones have a subconscious, made to protect me. Much like you and your Kyuubi power, Naruto-kun." Njaal said, tucking his heirloom back into his clothes and turned to look at the group since he had began telling his story.

Sakura was sobbing her eyes out, sitting on the ground on her knees. She couldn't support herself when the sad part of the story came, so she collapsed down and broke down. Naruto had his back turned to Njaal, but Njaal could see the shaking of his shoulders, signaling that he too was sobbing. Kakashi was rooted to his spot, staring at the ground in front of him.

"I..have heard of that story." Kakashi stated, looking at the young man. "The tale of a boy who's life turned so bad, people were beginning to suspect that he would sell his soul to the Death God to have one day of happiness. After that incident, you lived with your grandfather until you were old enough to travel the country." Njaal nodded slowly, and brought his scarf back up to cover the lower part of his face once again. Kakashi then looked him right in the eye and spoke again.

"It was said that the Jata clan had been slaughtered by an unknown force." Sakura and Naruto gasped at this information. Naruto turned around and looked at Njaal as tears fell freely from his face.

Njaal nodded slowly, tears starting to come to his eyes. "I got there too late. I know it was him though. The same man. I heard his voice as I arrived at the burning building of the Jata compound, telling me to seek him once I got more powerful. The only person to survive the attack on the compound was my brother, Jaiken. Even though my brother was strong, Jaiken had deep gashes in his body and he was unconscious on the side of the compound bleeding to death. I managed to get him to a hospital just in time." The tears flowed freely now, and he looked down at the ground.

Suddenly Sakura jumped up and yelled out, still crying.

"How were you able to be so happy when we first met you?! When you helped us with the mission, and when we told you about our stories that night! You seemed happy! How is that possible after what you've gone through!? How is it-"

"Because, he's like me." Naruto interrupted, staring at Njaal. Sakura looked over at Naruto, questioning what he said. "He's like me and Gaara. We think of all the good things that happened to us in our life, and survive on them. We cling to them like a lifeline, hoping that the memories won't perish." He said as the tears started to run down more and more.

Njaal then reached up and brushed away the tears. He looked up and stared at the sky, taking in the blue hue of the beauty, and looked down again at the group.

"Well then, let's make more of those memories so we can enjoy them! I still have to report to the Hokage!" He said, being as cheerful as he can. Sakura was amazed that he could recover from telling his life flashback so fast and be happy. She attempted a smile and nodded, and looked over at Naruto to see that he had somewhat stopped crying, and was smiling too. Kakashi smiled under his mask and looked at his two students.

_'They're maturing.'_ He thought, impressed.

Suddenly Njaal gasped.

"Let's get some ramen to cheer us up!" He shouted, punching the air in front of him. Naruto visibly brightened and even Sakura looked pretty happy. The three raced off, leaving Kakashi walking back to the city, his face once again glued to his book.

-------------------------------------

"Halt!" The guard yelled. The group of three stopped in front of him. The guard looked surprised. "Naruto? And Sakura? Who is that behind you?" He asked, pointing at Njaal. Njaal then gave a deep, polite bow and introduced himself.

"Ohayo! I am Njaal, of the Bone Country. I come to tell your Hokage that quite a few shinobi are scanning the country as we speak, looking for enemy ninja." He said. The guard looked at him for a bit before visibly relaxing and let out a sigh.

"Well, that's a relief. Sorry about that, but i've been having to crack down on watch since some sound ninja were spotted near here awhile ago." He said, and suppressed a yawn. He then smiled. "Well, these two can show you to the Hokage tower. Enjoy your stay." He said before going back to his stand on the side of the gates. Naruto motioned Njaal to follow him, and they, with Sakura, raced to the Ichiraku ramen stand. When they arrived, Ayame was cleaning the counters where they ate. She saw Naruto and brightened visually.

"Naruto-kun! Where've you been!? We've been dead for the last couple of days." She pouted. She then noticed Sakura, and someone who she did not know. But, from what she saw of the man, he was very handsome. She was looking at his face when suddenly her eyes locked with his. It only took a second before he looked away, but the image of those dark orbs stuck into her mind. She then noticed his protector, showing an X and representing the Bone Country, and smiled a bit. Naruto didn't notice this exchange and grinned sheepishly while rubbing the back of his head.

"Gomen, gomen, Ayame-chan. I've been on a mission." He said, breaking her out of her thoughts. She smiled at Naruto and made mer way behind the counter. As Naruto and the others sat down on the chairs, he looked around and noticed something.

"Hey, where's the old man?" He asked. Njaal sighed at Naruto's disrespect, while Sakura giggled slightly. Ayame also giggled a bit.

"Oh, he's at the house. He dropped some silverware and hurt his back trying to pick it up." She sighed. "He's such a hassle at times, but that's what I love about my father!" She grinned. "So, what can I get you three?"

Naruto thought for a moment, and Njaal sweatdropped seeing how much he was concentrating on such a simple thing. "I'll have beef!" He exclaimed. Ayame nodded and looked at Sakura.

"I'll have the same." She said, smiling. Ayame nodded and looked over at the shinobi she didn't know.

"Naruto-kun, who's your friend?"

Naruto looked at her dumbly for a minute, before remembering Njaal.

"Oh! This is Njaal-sama! We met him on our way to our mission when we had quite an encounter with some Sound shinobi." He said. Ayame looked worried, but Naruto spoke again. "BUT, Njaal-sama took them out no problem. Ain't that right?" Naruto grinned and was about to give him a slap on the back to congratulate him before he remembered what happened. He stopped, and slowly turned to face the front of the counter again, a distant look in his eyes. Ayame noticed this and raised an eyebrow. Sakura looked away.

"Sure." Njaal answered behind his scarf, casting his eyes downward. Ayame was about to question what happened, but remembered what they ordered and got to work on it. Awhile passed, the three not saying anything. Then suddenly Njaal remembered something.

"Oi, Naruto, what do you think the chances are of me coming to your team for the Chuunin Exams?" He questioned, earning surprised looks from Naruto.

"Oh yeah! I completely forgot about them. But I think-" Suddenly Naruto paled. Njaal looked at him curiously.

"Hmm? What's wrong?" He asked. He suddenly saw that Sakura had paled a bit and was pointing at him.

"Y-You defeated five sound ninja, and you're still a GENIN?!" They both asked. Njaal sweatdropped.

"Well, four actually. The fifth uh, ran away." He said, scratching the back of his head and grinning sheepishly under his scarf. "And besides, rank doesn't technically mean your skill." He sighed. "At least I HOPE i'm not at a Genin level. The only reason why i've failed the Chuunin Exams is because my team was caught cheating on the test and so they kicked me out too. They really don't know how to do it secretly." He sighed again. Naruto snapped out of it and shrugged, then looked at Sakura, who shrugged also.

"We could ask the Hokage when we get to her tower after this." Sakura said, giving him reassurance.

"Order up!" The ramen came to them now as Ayame set it on the counter in front of them. "Enjoy it you guys!" She said, giving a smile, before going off back into the back of the stand. Njaal looked down at it, and shoved his scarf down under his neck. He was practically drooling from the smells that came at him.

"Ooh. It looks tasty." He exclaimed, licking his lips. Naruto turned to him and nodded eagerly.

"Of course it does! Try it!" Njaal nodded.

"Itadakimasu!" He said and used his chopsticks to bring some ramen up to his mouth before slurping it in. Almost immediately his eyes widened. He dropped his chopsticks on the counter and visibly shivered

"It's...It's.." He stuttered. Naruto bit his nails in anticipation, wondering how Njaal was going to like ramen for the first time. "IT'S AMAZING!" Njaal yelled loudly, earning some odd looks from a few passing villagers, while he gave a thumbs up to Naruto who was grinning at him.

"ISN'T IT?! NOW YOU CAN SEE WHY I LOVE RAMEN MORE THAN ANYTHING!" Naruto exclaimed, also saying Itadakimasu before chowing down. Sakura stared at the two who were gorging themselves. Her left eye twitched involuntarily, before she said her thanks also and started eating, slower of course than of the two boys.

Njaal, while chowing down, was getting excited from the upcoming Chuunin Exams.

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Hell of a flashback, ain't it?

Also, for those that were wondering how Njaal does that stuff with his bones Kimimaro style, well maybe not Kimimaro style, but still. He can use chakra to lengthen and multiply the bones, so, like Gaara, theres almost an infinite amount. Nerdy explanation I know, but it's alright cause i'm leet.

I really can't wait to start putting in the Chuunin Exams in this story. Please R&R and tell me what you think of it so far.


	4. Chapter 4

Stranger 4 

For those of you who are wondering, Njaal's name is pronounced as "Jawl". The N is silent.

AND HEY! If anyone can, PLEASE send me an email on how to spell "Bone Demon" in Japanese. Thanks!  
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After the trio were done eating ramen, they said their thanks to Ayame and left to go see the Hokage. Njaal still had to tell her that the Bone shinobi were sweeping the country, making sure that no armies were gathering and planning an attack. Njaal sighed as they walked down the street, his hands on the back of his head as he gazed up at the deep blue sky. They arrived at Konohagakure faster than they predicted, and it was still mid-day. Sakura seemed to be in deep thought as they walked, and then seemed to remember something and turned to Njaal who was on the left side of the trio as they walked down the road.

"Hey, Njaal, I was just thinking about your story you told us," at this she seemed to grow an ounce sad, and then continued her question. "Well, while you were telling us that you were trained by your father, you didn't mention where you trained without your eyes. How did that happen?"

Njaal scratched the back of his head and pondered a bit, looking down at the ground now. "That's because my father wasn't my real sensei. He didn't show me the trick to it because he died the night that the scroll was implanted into me, which gave my clan ability (ability to control their bones) a mind of its own, as I said in my story." He stated. Naruto looked up at him in surprise.

"Then, who was your real sensei?" He asked, pondering who else could teach him it. Njaal seemed to brighten visually and looked back up at the sky.

"My brother, obviously. The only other survivor of the Jata clan. Like Kakashi said, I was staying with my grandfather after my parents died that night. I stayed with him for three years, until I was ten. That's when the clan was slaughtered. After my brother recovered from the hospital, we stayed at one of the clan members houses, away from the compound. That's when he started training me." Njaal sighed, and chuckled a bit. Naruto looked at him with a quizzical look on his face.

"What's so funny?" He snorted out, obviously irritated that he didn't know what was so funny.

"My brother uses..a different kind of technique than that of using his bones. Well, don't get me wrong, he can still use them, it's just that his most powerful method of fighting...well..." He grinned visibly under his scarf and patted Naruto on the head. "Maybe you'll see it in action sooner or later." At this, Naruto huffed and muttered things under his breath. Sakura held a hand over her mouth to contain her laughter.

Suddenly, Njaal felt someone watching him. He stopped, making Naruto and Sakura stop as well. Njaal grew nervous. He felt as if the eyes were piercing his soul. Naruto blinked and asked.

"Oi, Njaal, what're you doing? We're almost to the Hokage tower." Njaal looked around, not paying attention to Naruto. Naruto grew angry at this and was about to yell at him when a voice interrupted him.

"Oh? Njaal is it?" A dark, feminine told rang out. Njaal and the other two looked over at where they heard the voice from to find nothing there. He grew more nervous, and starting focusing his chakra into his bones. Suddenly, a kunai flew out with amazingly fast speed from his left. He heard it coming, but was too late to see it. In a blink of an eye, just like he was hoping for, three spikes shot out of his shoulder and connected themselves together to make a wall against the incoming projectile. The kunai hit the bone wall with a clang and bounced off, landing in the dirt road. If there were villagers out at the time in this sector of Konohagakure, it would've taken them a few seconds to process what happened. Like it did with Naruto and Sakura. The wind picked up slightly, making the two tendrils of Njaal's scarf flap around behind him. Naruto and Sakura looked to where the kunai came from, as did Njaal. Naruto blanched and Sakura visibly trembled, while Njaal arched an eyebrow.

"A-Anko.." Naruto sputtered out. Indeed, where the kunai came from, was Anko Mitarashi, standing on the edge of a rooftop of a house. She had a sadistic look in her eye, and her mouth stretched out to a grin as she gazed at her prey, currently being Njaal. Naruto knew that look. It was the look that Anko gave when she liked something she saw. He certainly didn't want to be around any longer. He made his decision, feeling bad for Njaal, but in situations like this it's every man for themselves. Of course, Sakura wasn't a man. Naruto sputtered and and grinned nervously. "Heh, heh. Uhhh we'llbeatthehokageofficewaitingforyounjaalsobye!" He then grabbed Sakura's arm and raced off, leaving a trail of dust behind them. Njaal looked after them, blinking, and then sighed. He closed his eyes and concentrated to lower the rush of adrenaline from the surprise attack, and opened them to begin walking, but stopped when he saw Anko in front of him, her face a few inches away from his. She still wore that disturbing grin.

"Mmmm... If it isn't Njaal. I've heard about your exploits. It's such...a pleasure...to meet you." She said the last part as she gazed over the seven-teen year old in front of her. Njaal twitched slightly under the look but regained his composure and cleared his throat.

"And you are?" He asked, backing away slightly. He gulped nervously though when she took a step forward towards him, their noses nearly touching.

"Anko." She breathed out lustily. She was obviously imagining stuff about her and Njaal, which made him nervous. "Ah, but of course..it's such a tease. To want you...Yet I can't touch you." She frowned with disappointment. She raised her hand and hovered her fingers over his cheek, grimacing when small bone shards started to protrude out of his cheek bone. Njaal, for once in his life, silently thanked whatever was in his bones that had a mind of its own. He reached up and pulled down his scarf, revealing the rest of his handsome face. She let out a small gasp, and then narrowed her eyes when he stuck his tongue out at her.

"I'm late. Leave me be." He huffed, putting his scarf back up, and walked around her. He only got a few feet when she said something that was surely going to make him paranoid.

"Watch your back, stud. You're going to need to with me around. I'll find a way around that curse of yours."

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Naruto and Sakura were sitting in Tsunade's office, talking to her about their mission, when suddenly they felt what felt like a stampede. Tsunade panicked, thinking that a herd of cows had escaped a farm nearby, and was about to send word for an evacuation when suddenly her door flew open. There stood Njaal with his head down, leaning in with his hand on the doorframe, while he panted like he had run a five mile race. He suddenly whipped his head up and pointed at Nartuo and Sakura.

"YOU TWO! HOW DARE YOU LEAVE ME THERE WITH THAT SUCCUBUS!" He yelled out, making Naruto wince. Sakura's eye twitched and suddenly she whirled on Naruto.

"It was his idea! He just grabbed me and dragged me off!" Naruto's eyes widened and he scratched the back of his head, grinning sheepishly.

"Was not!"

"Was too!" A vein throbbed in Tsunade's forehead.

"Was not!"

"Was too!" Tsunade twitched a bit.

"Was-"

"NARUTO!" The female Hokage yelled, making the two stop and smile nervously. She didn't care what they were yelling about. She just wanted to know what was going on with the Bone Country. Njaal suddenly seemed to notice "her" for the first time and stared. Tsunade noticed this too, and another vein throbbed. "Hey kid...My face is up here.." She gritted out. Njaal snapped out of it and laughed quietly to himself. He suddenly remembered what he was here for and cleared his throat as he walked up to the front of the desk and bowed deeply, closing his eyes and slipping his scarf under his chin.

"Hokage-sama, i'm here to inform you that our shinobi are patrolling the Land of Fire and other countries as we speak, making sure no armies are forming. We will have their report in a week or so. The report is coming here when it's done." He stated, still bowing. Tsunade closed her eyes in deep thought, obviously use to people staring at her breasts. She put her hands together in front of her as she thought.

"Hmm, the Chuunin Exams are also in a week." She mentioned, and then spoke again. "Please, don't call me Hokage. Or add sama for that matter. Just call me Tsunade." She said. "And you can stop bowing." Njaal opened his eyes and stood up, his scarf still under his chin. "What is your name, Bone shinobi?" She asked, opening one eye at him.

"Njaal, good lady Tsunade." At this, Tsunade's eyes widened immensily. She put her hands on her desk and stood up, lookng Njaal right in the eye. Njaal gulped and backed away, thinking he did something wrong.

"Njaal...Ever since Fire allied with Bone, i've waited to see you. You see, I requested files on random Bone shinobi, and you happened to be one of the files. I know what happened to you when you were younger. I know your clan was slaughtered, and your parents were killed the night that you...you slaughtered those people...Njaal. Do you know what happened that night?" She asked, worry in her voice. Naruto and Sakura looked up at Njaal, wondering if he knew something that he didn't tell them in his flashback. Njaal put his hand on his chin and closed his eyes, thinking. After a moment, he sighed and slumped his shoulders, his hands at his side. He shook his head no.

"No, Tsunade. I'm sorry. After my chakra refused the incantation to make me mindless, I can't remember anything." He suddenly realized somthing, his eyes widening. "But wait! If I can't remember anything, and I woke up with all the men dead, doesn't that mean that I DID lose my mind?!" He gasped. Naruto and Sakura realized this too, eyes widening as they paled. Naruto shook his head. He knew what had happened, but he didn't want to believe it.

Tsunade looked at him with, what looked like, remorse. "Njaal...That scroll that the man put in you..it.." She closed her eyes and looked away. Njaal grew irritated and slammed his hand on the desk.

"WHAT?! WHAT HAPPENED?!" He demanded. Tsunade nodded and looked back up at him, looking at him in the eyes.

"He put a demon inside of you. You were a vessel for a demon since you were seven." She whispered. Njaal took a step back, tears gathering in his eyes as he clenched his fists. Tsunade continued. "Due to your odd chakra capacity, the scroll was rejected when it was time for you to lose your mind. But, you said that you can't remember anything and you woke up with everyone dead. Tell me, what did you feel before you blacked out?" She asked. Njaal still couldn't believe what was happening.

"I saw my parents die. All I felt was anger at not being able to help them. Anger towards those men for capturing me. Yet, there was also sadness for them dying." He said lowly, without emotion. Tsunade nodded, as if it confirmed her thought.

"Just as I thought." She nodded. "There's only one explanation. Njaal, the demon inside of you cares about you. When he was inside of you, he felt those emotions from you and wanted to help. With you being so young, he easily took over your body and killed those men." She said. "But, of course that's just a guess! Eh heheh. Hey! NJAAL!" She yelled as Njaal fell down.

He had fainted.

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Njaal groaned at his headache, wondering why it was so warm and the sun beamed down brighter than normal. He leaned up and put his hand down on the ground next to him to realize that it was sand. His eyes snapped open and his mouth opened in shock.

There he was, sitting on sand, in the middle of some god forsaken desert in the middle of no where. He regained his senses and, with the help of his hand on the ground, stood himself up to stand upright. Njaal leaned his hand down and brushed the sand on it off on his pant leg, then reached up with both hands to put them against his forehead, blocking the sun out of his eyes. As he looked around, his eyes widened. A desert was an understatement. This was more like a bone yard, because as far as his eyes could see, there was just sand, sky, and bones. Lots of them. Jutting out everywhere from the sand.

"This can't be real.." He whispered. "What the hell IS this place?!" A sudden quake made him lose his balance, and he fell forward on his hands and knees. The quake turned violent, shaking Njaal down to his core. But, as sudden as it started, it suddenly stopped. Njaal stood in his position for awhile to make sure it really stopped before standing back up on his feet. "What the hell was that?" He questioned to himself. A sudden deep, throaty, demonic voice rumbled out of no where.

**"So. It would seem that the truth about us has been revealed."**

Njaal blanched visibly, and, for the first time in his life, he wanted to hide. He wanted to run somewhere and lock himself in and not come out. He wished he could hide himself behind his scarf, which was now covering the usual portions of his face as it regularly did. The voice spoke again.

**"Oh? What is this? Fear? My carrier reeks of fear?"**

At that, Njaal's eyes widened. 'Carrier? Does this mean...Does this mean that.."

**"Yes, young one. I am the demon inside of you."**

Njaal gritted his teeth. "SHOW YOURSELF YOU BASTARD! SHOW YOURSELF SO I CAN KILL YOU FOR HAVING ME SUFFER ALL THESE YEARS!" He yelled out to the desert. A moment of silence went by, making Njaal nervous. This was the eye before the storm. A deep chuckle filled the air, filling Njaal's ears. Njaal grew angry at this, and grew even angrier as the chuckle increased to a full blown laugh. The ground started shaking again, more violently this time, but Njaal was determined. He held his stance, waiting for something to happen. The laughter died down eventually, and the voice spoke again.

**"Very well. I will show myself to you."** The sudden shaking turned into a full blown thrash, making Njaal even more nervous. He suddenly spotted something a good hundred feet in front of him. It looked like a pit in the sand at first, but then it started turning. It grew faster and faster until the whole area dropped out. Njaal's eyes widened immensely, and he stood there flabbergasted. Then, with a violent shake, the area exploded in a wave of sand. As the sand started to fly at him, he noticed something rising out of the huge crater that was there. He didn't have time to see it though as the wave of sand hit him head on, and he was pushed back against his own will. He flew in the air, doing a few backflips, before he landed harshly on his stomach in the sand. The breath was knocked out of him, and he clenched his fist in anger. What was this that so easily pushed him back with just sand? Remembering that he started to see something before the sand hit him, he looked up from his position on the ground.

And his eyes nearly fell out of his head.

There, a few hundred feet away, coming up from the sand was the biggest monster he ever laid his eyes on. It was a worm obviously, but it towered well over five hundred feet, and it was still sunk into the sand, which meant it was taller. It's head, or if you will, front part, was a mere twenty feet away from him as it floated in the air. To Njaal, it looked round enough to cover the whole proximity of Konohagakure. Njaal could only gape in horror. The body of the worm was made up of parts of bone and skin in some places. The parts of the skin visible were a dark, dark brown color, and obviously the bone parts were white. He turned his attention to the frontal part in front of him, noticing three lines that went from opposite sides of the being's frontal part, to meet in the dead center which was looking at him.

Njaal, slowly, as if not to alarm the being, rose up from his spot in the ground and found it hard to stand as the worm gazed at him. Suddenly without warning, the three lines meeting in the middle split apart, and the sections went their seperate ways, still attached to the being. They opened to reveal, to Njaal's horror, a giant looking maw. Njaal paled to an extreme, and took a step back. On the sections that seperated, there were rows upon rows of teeth, each one bigger than Njaal himself (A/N: Think of it as the worms from the Dune movie). And, in the middle of the maw, Njaal saw the hole that lead to his eternal damnation. The monsters esophagus. Suddenly he realized it. He let out a desperate laugh as he realized that today, he was going to die. The worm closed it's mouth, and seemed to cock it's head to the side in confusion.

**"What's so funny, young one?"** The being asked, somehow able to speak without opening it's mouth. Njaal looked up at the monstrosity with amused eyes.

"Apparently today comes the day that I die. I ask you to kill me quickly though, for slow deaths make me impatient." He lied. He didn't want to die a slow death from this thing. He wanted to get it over with as fast as possible and move on to the afterlife. He was greatly surprised though, when a sound erupted in the air. The sound of gutteral laughter, which was coming from the worm.

**"You amuse me boy. It may be your wish, but you are not going to die. Not from me at least."**

Njaal blinked. Did this mean that the worm towering before him wasn't going to kill him? He seemed to relax a little, and looked at the worm in curiosity. The worm noticed the look and answered him.

**"If you were to die, then I would die. Like I said previously, I am the demon inside of you."** The being rumbled. Njaal remembered that then. He also remembered what he said after he learned that. Njaal had said that he was going to kill him. He suddenly grinned sheepishly and scratched the back of his head.

"Yeah...What I said earlier..I uh, take that back." He wondered if he was going to get away with this. The demon couldn't really kill him, so what did he have to lose? He suddenly realized something, and pointed at his demon's head. "You're the one that controls my bones along with me, right?"

**"Yes. I was put into you by that man in order to strengthen your clan's ability, and to make you a killing machine. But, when I was actually inside your body, I noticed your outrageous chakra capacity and decided that I wanted to see what you were capable of. I must say, so far i'm very impressed."** At this, Njaal blinked.

"But, couldn't you have just taken over control of my body like the scroll was made to do?" He questioned.

**"I was planning on it. But, like I said, you have an extraordinary chakra capacity. I don't know if you did it on purpose, or if it automatically happened, but I was rejected control of your soul. I am, however, in control of your clan's abilities. That much is forced upon me."** Njaal nodded and seemed to ponder. He was hesitant in asking, but he might as well since he was here.

"Oi, demon, is there any possible way that you could like, I don't know, stop making me a piece of shrapnel when someone touches me?" He called out. The being's laugh erupted into the air, startling Njaal out of his mind (not literally).

**"I thought you would never ask. I do it on instinct, mortal. I do not wish to die. So I will make you a deal. If you use my demonic chakra to aid you in your fights from time to time, I will relinquish control of your bones."** As soon as he said this, Njaal nearly jumped for joy. But he continued. **"But, you must realize that you will have to be cautious. Ever since that night I was implanted into you, I have protected you from injury. You will have to be wary not to get yourself killed."** He paused.** "If you're still sure, then I will give you the scroll to remove me from your bones. Of course, you'll still have the ability to command your bones thanks to your clan. But at that point on, our relationship will be like that of the Kyuubi and his vessel. I will be inside of you, watching over you, while you live your life."** Njaal nodded in understanding.

"But why? Why are you doing this instead of trying to break out? It seems like you LIKE helping me." At this the worm being chuckled deeply.

**"Your life is an interesting one, boy. I would rather stay inside a worthy body rather than being hunted day and night with no where to run. Eventually, they would find someone with enough skill to either seal me up like they did with Kyuubi, or kill me somehow."** Njaal nodded and pondered for a moment. Once he made his decision, he nodded to himself and looked up at the being.

"As much as I like your protection, worm being, I would rather feel the touch of my friends without hurting them. They mean too much to me. I agree to your deal, and I will use your chakra in my fights." He stated positively. The worm bellowed out his laughter, and leaned in his head closer to Njaal. This, of course, made Njaal nervous, and even more nervous when the being opened it's gaping jaws. For the second time in a day, Njaal was looking at death itself. Suddenly a tendril shout out from the long tube of the esophagus, and stopped abruptly. In the grasp of the tendril was a scroll. Njaal took the hint, and relieved the tendril of the scroll and looked as it shot back into the monsters mouth. The jaws closed, and the creature's head rose.

**"Open the scroll mortal, and be proud to be the first to sign it. You must use your own blood though. I suggest taking a bite of your thumb and writing your signature with it."** Suddenly the creature twitched as if it had remembered something. **"Another thing that I forgot about. Once you sign this scroll, it means two things. One, like I stated, I will not be in control of your bones anymore. And two, made with the right hand seals, you will be able to summon me into battle with a specific amount of chakra."** At this, Njaal grinned under his scarf. He liked the sound of the worm devouring all enemy shinobi in it's path. He opened the scroll, and laid it out on the sand. Njaal did as he was told, biting his thumb to draw blood, and then signed his real name on it. Jata Njaal. Once he was done, he wrapped it back up and looked around.

"Erm, where should I put it?" He questioned. The worm leaned down and opened its jaws again, making Njaal uncomfortable.

**"Toss it into my esophagus."** Njaal nodded, and did so, relieved when the giant closed it's mouth and rised. **"Well done, boy. Everything is complete. Now go, and return to your world. Let me sleep for a few days. It took a lot out of me to summon you here for this talk."** Njaal nodded, and nearly buckled when a sense of vertigo overtook his senses, tearing him from his mind.

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Njaal opened his eyes and immediately noticed that he was not in a familiar environment. Everything looked white. He groaned in realization when he figured out that he was in a hospital room. He leaned up, and noticed that he was alone in his room. He also noticed that he was in his regular clothes, but with his scarf down under his chin. The window was open to the right of his head, and he saw that it was night. The cool breeze that blew in felt good to him, relieving him of this summer heat. The door then suddenly opened and in walked Naruto and Sakura. Upon seeing that Njaal was awake, they rushed to his bedside.

"Oi! Njaal! Are you alright?" Naruto asked, looking worried. Njaal suddenly thought back to his encounter with the worm being, and couldn't tell whether to be happy or sad.

"Yeah, i'm fine. I think. I met the demon inside of me." He stated, looking down at his lap. Sakura and Naruto's eyes widened at this, and Sakura couldn't help but asking.

"What is it? The only ones i've heard of are the Fox, which is in Naruto. And the raccoon, which is in Gaara." She asked, pondering.

"My demon is a great worm, easily the biggest creature i've seen yet. It looked like it was over five hundred feet!" He exclaimed. Naruto and Sakura's eyes widened. Sure, the Kyuubi and the Shukaku were big, but five hundred feet? That was massive. "Oi, Naruto. I want you to do me a favor. Tap my arm and see if my bones still react to it." At this Naruto blanched, remembering what happened after he grabbed him last time.

"W-Why? No offense, but I don't really think my hand being impaled is a good idea." He said. Njaal continued.

"Well, I signed a scroll that he gave me. We made a deal that if I agreed to use some of his demonic chakra every once in awhile, he'll stop possessing my bone structure. I want to see if he's telling the truth." At this, Naruto hesitantly nodded, and reached over to Njaal's forearm. Gulping nervously, he quickly tapped it and retracted it with inhuman speed. The trio sat there, watching, waiting for something to happen. After awhile, it became apparent. Nothing was going to happen. Njaal felt like a mountain had been taken off his shoulders, and he cheered for all his life. "I can't believe it! It actually worked! He doesn't control my bones anymore!" Sakura and Naruto also cheered in, and they did a group hug, the two happy for their new friend.

"That's amazing!" Sakura squealed. She knew how much this meant to Njaal. Not being able to be touched by someone for ten years must have been devastating. Njaal suddenly had a question and retracted himself from the group hug.

"Oi, guys, how long was I out for?" He questioned.

"Two days." Njaal's eyes widened.

"Five days till the Chuunin Exam! Naruto, did you ask Tsunade about me being on your team?" Njaal asked. At this Naruto nodded furiously, obviously excited.

"Yep yep yep! Our team is going to be me, you, and Hinata." He said. Njaal raised and eyebrow.

"Hinata? Who's that?"

"One of my friends. She's a Hyuuga. You can meet her tomorrow. For now we should all get some sleep. Tsunade said you can stay in the hospital for as long as you saw fit until you got better, Njaal. You should stay here and get some rest. I'll come get you tomorrow." Naruto said as he and Sakura walked to the door. Njaal nodded and laid back down, suddenly aware at how tired he was.

"Night Njaal." Sakura said, waving goodbye to him before her and Naruto went out, leaving Njaal to sleep the night away.

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Next chapter, Njaal meets the gang!


	5. Chapter 5

**Stranger 5**

Sorry for the delay, I was traveling on the road of life when a black cat came by so I had to take a long way.

Thanks to Vampiro101 for the..ehm...inspiration to hurry and finish this chapter.

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Njaal sighed after waking up for the sixth time that night. He grumbled, muttering something about not being able to sleep, and got out of his hospital bed. Glancing at the clock on the cabinet, he cursed as he saw it was still late in the night. 3:22 A.M. to be exact. He reached up and rubbed his eyes, and remembered the previous events. He smiled brightly, visible to all as his scarf was still under his chin, as he lowered his hands in front of him and stared into his palms.

_'He did it. He actually did it. No more will anyone get hurt for touching me.'_ He thought happily. He stretched out and looked out the window, admiring the beauty of Konohagakure as it slept. There were a few street lights on, but the shadows were bathed in the bright light of the moon. He breathed in the fresh air and exhaled, enjoying the crisp coolness of the night. Njaal decided to take a walk around Konohagakure, getting familiar with the sights seeing that he was probably going to be staying here for awhile. After setting his coat down on a chair in the room, he jumped out the window of the third story of the hospital, pulling his scarf up to cover the usual lower portion of his face, and grinned at the sensation of free falling. His adrenaline pumped with vigor, and as he neared the ground, time seemed to slow down for him. Njaal did a front flip and focused chakra into his legs to stabilize his landing, and grinned with satisfaction when he landed in a crouched position with almost no sound. Just a slight thump indicating that he had landed.

He breathed in and exhaled again, calming his senses. Suddenly he saw to the right, out of the corner of his eye, a shadow that blurred as it moved. Reacting quickly, he reached down to his kunai pouch on the side of his pantleg and tossed two kunai at the shadow. He smirked in satisfaction when the kunai seemed to hit the target, only to gasp out in surprise when the target disappeared in a puff of smoke.

_'A clone?! Then where.."_ His thoughts were interrupted as another shadow appeared right in front of him, making him gasp out in surprise again. The figure threw a punch at Njaal with speed that he couldn't follow, which connected with his stomach and made him fly into a tree quite a few feet behind him. Before he could recover, the shadow threw out four kunai. Two pierced his two sleeves, and the other two pierced his two pantlegs. They suck into the tree, rendering Njaal unable to move. His hands were trapped above him, spread out while his legs were trapped together. Njaal's eyes widened at the skill of his opponent, and was just about to ask who it was when a chuckle pierced the air.

"Eh heh heh heh. Lookie what I caught."

Njaal's eyes widened even more than what they were.

_'That voice...It sounds familiar...'_

There was a faint light that illuminated the area he was in, probably from a streetlight slightly behind the tree. It only illuminated a few feet in front of him, making him angry that he couldn't see who it was. His thoughts were answered though, when the person stepped into the light. Njaal let out gasp, and narrowed his eyes at the person before him, letting out a small audible growl. The figure walked their way to Njaal at a slow pace, which gave Njaal time to notice her atire. Tan colored boots of some kind, shin guards, a tan skirt, tan trench coat, and a very revealing fishnet body suit underneath. There was only one person that matched that description. That had to be...

"Anko." Njaal snarled out, making her grin.

"Oh? You remember my name? I'm flattered." She whispered the last part, and stalked up to him. Njaal tried to back away, but found himself unable to move because of the kunai. Suddenly her fist shot out, and punched him again in the stomach. Njaal cried out and bent forward as far as the kunai let him, unable to keep himself straight against the tree from the force of the blow. He gasped for breath and panted, closing his eyes.

"W-Why are..you doing..this?" He muttered out between pants. Anko smirked and leaned down, lowering Njaal's scarf to the spot under his chin. Apparently this irritated her, and, with a protest from Njaal, yanked the scarf completely off of his neck and dropped it on the ground beside her. He growled deeply at her, but stopped abruptly when she leaned in and cupped his cheek with her right hand, her face now in front of his, the tip of their noses touching.

"I listened to what you said to that Naruto brat and that pink haired girl while I was outside of the room. And I must say, i'm very proud you made the decision you did." She stroked his cheek, grinning while she raised her left hand and pushed him up and against the tree. He let out a grunt as his back slammed against the tree, and cursed her when she pressed herself against him. He suddenly smirked at her, which made her raise an eyebrow in question.

"You're such a fool." He muttered, and focused chakra into his arms. And, to his shock, nothing happened. "M..My bloodline..what the hell?!" He gasped out. Anko grinned mischievously and placed her left hand on his cheek, while her right hand roamed over his chest and to his stomach, rubbing his abs, before going back up to his chest where the hand stopped traveling. She leaned her head in until her lips were barely touching his ear lobe.

"You're such a nice catch, Njaal-kun." She whispered, making him shiver as her breath danced across his skin. He gulped down the lump in his throat and closed his eyes.

"Don't call me that." He grumbled out, earning a pout from Anko. _'What the hell happened to my bloodline?!' _He thought frantically. She leaned her head back from his ear, which made Njaal open an eye at her. Their eyes locked onto each other, and he saw something that he wasn't expecting to see. He saw care, and warmth, and possibly a flash of...love? Was he imagining it? He nearly lept out of his skin when she leaned in and kissed his left cheek, while his right cheek was being stroked by her left hand. She closed her eyes, and suckled on the flesh, before letting go and letting her tongue slither out, lapping his cheek with it. Njaal had to bite his lip to keep a moan from escaping his mouth. He felt her graze her teeth down his cheek, past his jaw, and to his neck, where she stopped and bathed it with her tongue before sucking it with her lips. This time Njaal could not stop himself, and he moaned out when he felt the pleasure of her actions on him. Upon hearing this, Anko smirked against his neck and whispered without moving her head back.

"This is the first touch you've felt in ten years, mmm?" His eyes widened at this, and he looked down at her. "I know what happened to you. I understand you." She brought down her left hand, and pressed herself even closer to his form. She rested her hands on his chest, rubbing soothing circles, which made Njaal break out into a sweat at the attention he was getting from this woman. He closed his eyes as she kissed his neck, and then nuzzled her face into him while smelling his scent, surprised when he smelled of pine and forest herbs. She suddenly stiffened though, and, to the relief of Njaal, leaned away and spaced herself from him. "Someone's coming." She growled. "I'll deal with you later." And just like that, she vanished into the shadows that were not penetrated by the street light. Njaal blinked, looking around, and noticed that he was still pinned to the tree.

"DAMN YOU SUCCUBUUUUUUSSS!" He yelled out, not sure if she heard it or not. Suddenly, footsteps were heard rapidly coming to his position. Njaal cursed himself for yelling like that. Who knows what kind of people roamed the streets this late at night? He was surprised though when he saw Naruto run out from the corner of the hospital and look his way. Naruto's eyes widened and he ran over to Njaal, asking if he was alright.

"What the hell happenened?! Who attacked you?" He questioned while digging the kunai out of the tree. Once all four were out, Njaal coughed and bent down to pick up his scarf. As he did this, Naruto saw the dark area on his neck in result of the hickey Anko had given him. He pointed blankly at him as he sweatdropped. "Or do I not want to know?" Njaal glared at him and secured his scarf back around his neck, moving it to cover the regular portions of his face.

"Uh, nothing happened." He coughed and decided to change the conversation. "Why are you up so late anyway, Naruto-kun?" He asked with curiosity. Naruto grinned at him.

"I can't wait for the exams to start! I'll finally be able to advance to Chuunin!" He stated, punching the air above him victoriously. "And please, just call me Naruto. As long as I can call you just Njaal." Njaal nodded, and sighed after a moment, patting him on the shoulder.

"Just don't let your guard down Naruto. I know what happened during the last exam you were in, why you aren't a Chuunin now. Be prepared for anything. The war is still being fought." He said seriously, making Naruto stop his victory dance and nod.

"I know...The most we can do is hope that nothing like that happens this time. I mean, all of my friends besides Hinata are Chuunins! Neji and Shikamaru are even Jounins! Maybe nothing will happen." He hoped silently. Njaal grinned sheepishly.

"Yeah..I have no idea who those people are, but i'm sure i'll found out soon." Naruto nodded and got an excited look on his face.

"Say, Njaal, would you want to spar with me? Our city has a lot of training grounds that we can use." Njaal was about to say sure, when suddenly he remembered that his bloodline wasn't working accordingly at the moment.

"Sorry Naruto, but for some reason my bones aren't moving to my will. It might have something to do with that thing I signed, or another thing I don't know about. I'm kind of worried though. I hope it's nothing serious." Suddenly at that moment a voice intruded.

**"My, aren't you naive?"**

Njaal's eyes widened at the deep voice in the back of his mind.

"Hold on Naruto, someone needs to talk to me." Naruto nodded, understanding the situation. Kyuubi sometimes did the same thing to him.

_'What do you want? I thought you were telling me to leave you alone for a few days...And how long were you awake?'_

**"I just awakened. The days pass by faster in here than that of your time. As for what I want, there are many things. But i'm talking to you know to tell you what's wrong with your bloodline." **Njaal visibly relaxed at the demon not being awake for the...meeting...with Anko.

_'You tricked me, didn't you?! Something in that scroll made me give up my power!' _He thought, furious at such a thing.

**"Hmph. Unlikely. You're just too stupid to realize that, before you signed that scroll, your bloodline was aided by me, as I had control over it at the time."** Njaal mentally slapped his head. Of course!

_'Ah, yeah. That would make sense. But wait! I was able to do it before I had you inside of me, when I was little!.'_

**"Oh? And how big was the bone? How much control did you exactly have over it? You've grown, and so have your skills." **Njaal grinned sheepishly, remembering the little splinter of a bone that came out of his finger after large amounts of training with his brother.

_'So, what are you trying to tell me?'_ The demon sighed and continued.

**"I'm telling you that you have to focus more without me. Push past the limits that you had when I controlled your bones. Of course, you won't automatically be protected since I relinquished control, but you'll still be able to control them like I did with great concentration and chakra."**

Njaal nodded before turning to Naruto.

"Naruto, please step away for a moment. I want to try something." Naruto nodded and took a few steps back. Njaal closed his eyes and concentrated.

_'How much chakra should I put into it?"_

**"It depends. First, concentrate and break past the barrier holding your bloodline dormant to you. Once you've done that, how much chakra you put in affects your bloodline."**

Njaal nodded and, with his eyes still closed, concentrated hard. He felt himself tingle, and a shiver ran up his spine. It felt like he was being pulled around, but he still concentrated on the task at hand. A seal suddenly formed in his mind after a few minutes of concentration, in which Naruto watched with curiosity. Carefully, Njaal brought his hands up and made the seal that appeared in his mind, and kneeled at the sensation that ran through him. It felt like something deep was unlocked, something that was kept hidden from him all this time. He shivered visibly, the tingle attacking him everywhere on his body. A pulse was felt, and suddenly bones protruded out of his body lightning quick, and Naruto twitched. Four bones were about an inch away from his face, and he quickly backed up before looking at Njaal. Or what he couls see of Njaal. Out of his body, every few centimeters, was a fat, pointy bone jutting out of his skin. It looked simply like a porcupine, except the needles were bones, and the bones were much thicker and deadly looking. Only Njaal's face was clearly visible out of all the shrapnel. And then, all at once, the bones retreated back into Njaal's form. Njaal let out a sigh of pleasure at feeling his bloodline working again, but frowned when he opened his eyes and scarf torn apart at his feet. His outfit though was one that his grandfather made while he was young, saying that once he turned into a teenager he could wear it. It was chakra enhanced, and suited Njaal perfectly with his bloodline.

"Well...Looks like you got it back!" Naruto grinned sheepishly. Njaal smiled and raised himself to his feet. He put his pointing finger up in front of him and put a small amount of chakra into it, grinning when a long piece of bone jutted out of the top.

"Indeed!" He grinned even bigger. "Now how about that spar? We need to train for the Chuunin Exams!"

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The sun's light was beginning to peak out over the village.

Hinata was walking down the forest path to the training grounds. She would do this everytime she couldn't get to sleep, and tonight was one of those nights. She sighed quietly to herself, remembering the reason why she couldn't sleep most nights.

_'Naruto-kun..'_

She took a left from the trail, following another trail until she heard an unfamiliar voice.

"Remember, my bloodline doesn't have a 'spar' mode. We're going to have to spar like it's a real battle."

Hinata was near the training grounds, but instead of making herself known, she went off the path and into the bushes to watch what was going on. As she got to the end of the bushes, she stuck her head up slightly and saw two figures. One she immediately recognized as Naruto. The other was a teenager she never saw in her life before, and at first glance would assume he was a professional shinobi. Naruto suddenly snorted.

"Yeah yeah I know. Stupid bones.."

Hinata wondered what he meant by that. _'Stupid bones..? What is Naruto-kun doing out here with that person?'_

Njaal nodded and looked to the sky, looking at the stars and moon.

"According to the sky, it is 6:24. The first part of the sun will show at 6:30. That is when we will begin our spar." Making Hinata smile to herself

_'Naruto-kun...Do your best!' _She thought happily.

Naruto nodded and looked at the direction of the soon-to-rise sun. The light was growing tremendously from behind the trees, and Naruto took his usual street-fight fighting stance while turning back to Njaal. Meanwhile, Njaal also took his fighting stance, which was unfamiliar to both Naruto and Hinata. He raised his right arm and placed his hand in front of his face by only a few inches, the palm side facing towards Naruto with his finger spread and curled forward towards Naruto slightly. His left arm was in place too, the bicep part of his arm glued to the side of his ribs while the elbow was bent and his forearm and hand were forward in the same stance as his other hand. He nodded at Naruto, and looked to where the sun was rising. Just then a part of the sun peaked over the trees, making him whip his head around to look back at Naruto. Only to find he wasn't there. His eyes widened, as did Hinata's. She mentally slapped herself and quietly activated her Byakugan.

Njaal looked around him, cursing when he didn't see Naruto anywhere.

_'He's not in front...Not to the sides...Above?!'_ He looked up and gritted his teeth when Naruto was no where. He whipped around to face behind him only to see nobody there either. At least that what he thought. Hinata ducked down into the bushes, hoping he didn't notice her. She stuck to observing them through the bushes with her Byakugan. Njaal's eyes widened when he realized the only other way. _'Below!'_

And just then, Naruto exploded out of the ground behind him, making Njaal's eyes widen even more with surprise. Acting on reflex, he spun around and launched his right hand out from his side, lowering his fingers so the tips of them slammed into Naruto's gut. Naruto let out a grunt of pain before he suddenly smirked and poofed from existance. Njaal sputtered.

"A Kage Bunshin?!" Out of the corner of his eye he saw a few kunai flying at him. Not knowing what to expect, he put a decent amount of chakra into his right arm and grinned as a decent sized slab of bone protruded out of his arm to a length of about four feet. Hinata quietly gasped as she saw his bones jutting out from his skin. Njaal swung his arm at the right time, knocking the kunai away, and looked to see Naruto charging after him. He raised his hands to form a seal and yelled out.

"**Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!**"(1) Five Naruto clones appeared, six with the original. Njaal smirked at the teen's knowledge of how to do a Jounin level skill, but this was no time to congratulate him. They were rushing him with an intent to kill. Njaal kept his eye on the real one while two rushed around and behind Njaal, standing ten feet away, while two took the same length to his side, and two to the same length in front, one of them being the real one. Njaal smirked and retracted his bone back into his arm.

"This is fun. Let me try a technique that I haven't used for a while." He said. He gathered chakra into his left hand and pushed the chakra forward into his palm.

"**Kusari Hone!**"(2) Naruto watched as a chain suddenly shot out of Njaal's hand and implanted itself into the ground, and noticed that like the name stated, it was a chain made out of bone. It was still attached to the inside of Njaal's palm he also noted. Njaal grinned, and Naruto's eyes widened in surprise as he dodged just in time. Out of the ground in front of him shot out a kunai of bone that was attached to the bone chain. Upon missing the real one, Njaal swung his hand and it curved before cutting into the clone that was by Naruto, making it disappear. Naruto landed a few feet away from where he originally was, to the side a little bit, but still ten feet away. He needed him and his clones to be the same exact distance for his combo to work. He watched carefully as the chain and kunai slithered back into the hole it shot out from. Njaal lifted his hand up and the chain raveled out of hole it had made in the first place, making it completely above ground. Since it was attached to the inside of his left palm, Njaal grabbed the chain in the middle with his right hand and started to swing it clockwise above his head like a lasso. He concentrated more chakra into it, and the real Naruto watched in horror as two more kunai molded out of the original kunai, each with their own chain that lead to the main chain which seemed to be around eight feet altogether.

Njaal suddenly launched the chain as it spun clockwise towards the Naruto in front of him, and Naruto managed to dodge backwards to escape the three kunai by just a few centimeters. He watched the chain continue to swing around like it had been doing and grimly watched as the other clones around Njaal were shredded by the kunai, leaving the original alone. Suddenly he realized what that meant, and jumped back again from the bone chain that passed at him, the kunai tearing three gashes across the clothing covering his chest, barely missing his flesh. _(A/N: Naruto is wearing the outfit that he wears when he comes back in the Shipuuden episodes)._ Njaal laughed and brought his right hand down that was holding the chain, making the kunai land on the ground to his right.

"I praise you for your ability to think quickly while in battle. You saw that your clones got hit by the kunai, and understood that you were the same distance as them so you managed to dodge it. You must remember that my bones are my bloodline, and I can control them however I see fit." He said with a smug look on his face. Naruto smirked.

"Yeah, me and my friend fought someone who had the same bloodline before. His name was-"

"Kimimaro? Yes, he use to be part of the Jata clan. But he disappeared from the village after his parents were killed on a mission. I heard that he stayed in the Kaguya clan for awhile before they were all killed off by the Mist, leaving Kimimaro alone. What happened to him after that?"

"He became a servant for Orochimaru, but died in a fight against two of my friends." Naruto stated. Njaal sighed and shook his head.

"What an idiot." He shrugged. "But, let us continue. The sun is up and the air is warm." Njaal charged Naruto.

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Hinata was still in the forest, watching Naruto spar with Njaal through the bushes. She was amazed at the combat efficiency of both of the fighters, but silently hoped for Naruto to win. She didn't know this other shinobi, but she could tell when someone was powerful. And Njaal was powerful indeed. Hinata was still watching the battle, mainly Naruto trying to find a way to approach Njaal without getting hit by the bone kunai, when she saw with her 359 degree Byakugan, the Rookie 9, minus Sakura, approach from the trail she had come from. They stalked though, quietly going to her location, before squatting down next to her. Hinata blinked.

"W-What are you guys d-doing here?" Kiba's eyes widened a bit, showing that he was clearly shocked.

"You can't feel that? We all woke up from the massive Ki coming from Naruto and that other guy." He motioned to Njaal. "But then we saw you in the bushes, and you weren't helping Naruto so we decided to stay out of it." He whispered. "Who is that guy anyway? He's using his bones to attack!" All of the Rookie 9 looked towards her. Hinata felt nervous under all of the gazes.

"I..I don't know. They're s-sparing though, so I g-guess they're friends." She suddenly got scared. "But if we're all gathered here, then they might sense us!" Neji shook his head.

"They are focused on the fight too much, and will not sense us." He stated. Lee looked excited.

"Both of them are engulfed in the flames of youth! Look at them go!" The Rookie 9 looked on at the battle.

------------------------------

"Come on Naruto! You're going to have to do better than that!" Njaal yelled, taunting the vessel. Said shinobi gritted his teeth and spaced himself once again from Njaal and his bone chain, which was swinging again like a lasso over his head. To say Naruto looked like he had gone through hell was an understatement. Although he had not been cut yet, his clothes had several tears in them from the bone kunai attached to the chain.

"Shut up! I'll find a way to get to you!" He threatened. Njaal smirked.

"Good, i'm starting to get bored here. Remember, don't hold back. Think of this as the ultimate battle. Think of me as your ENEMY!" He snarled and, using momentum of the spinning chain, launched it directly at Naruto as it spun towards him. Naruto dodged at the right time, a little shocked at this kind of attack from the chain instead of a swing from the side like the attacks before. He shook his head and ran quickly at Njaal while the chain was behind him, covering the distance in a few seconds. Njaal's eyes widened and he cursed his actions at throwing the chain instead of swining it. Naruto pulled back his right arm and launched a powerful punch, which hit Njaal in the chest. He then remembered what Njaal was capable of, and pulled back quickly, but was curious when no bones came out. Naruto dodged the chain that came up from behind him as Njaal was thrown back from the punch, and suddenly it dawned on him. He knew Njaal's weakness.

Njaal landed a bit away with a loud slam into the ground and slid for a few feet. When he stopped, he groaned and remembered the situation he was in, making him forget his pain instantly. He quickly straightened himself out and stood up on his feet, looking to Naruto, to find him grinning.

"Don't think that you've won by landing a punch on me. We aren't done yet." At this, Naruto's grin widened.

"No, I didn't win by landing a punch on you. But I won by finding out your weakness." An eyebrow of Njaal's raised.

"Oh? And what's that?"

Naruto laughed out loud, and pointed at him.

"If you use your bones somewhere, then everywhere else is fair game. Like you were using your bones for your bone chain. No matter what you do, while you have that equipped, you can't concentrate your bones anywhere else. Which is why you didn't launch your ribs out to attack my hand before or when I punched you." Njaal's look of curiosity turned into one of envy.

"Yet again, i'm amazed at your speed to decipher the strengths and weaknesses of your enemy, Naruto. Yes, that is true. But, I will give you a tip. I can also produce bones out of the same places if I concentrate hard enough. Like when you first saw me, I produced the two bone scythes out of the same places of my arm. I'm slowly starting to gain control of my bloodline, like before, when "he" helped." Naruto nodded in understanding, but the Rookie 9 in the bushes were confused.

_'Who does he mean?'_

"But, Naruto...You underestimate me." Njaal stated. Naruto watched in confusion as the three bone kunai molded into one, and the chain slithered back into Njaal's hand, becoming one with his bones. Njaal smirked and slid into the fighting pose of when the battle first began.

------------------------------

In the bushes, Lee's eyes widened in surprise. He let out a slight gasp, and everyone looked at him.

"What is it Lee?" Tenten asked. Lee pointed at Njaal.

"That stance...it requires a highly trained expert in taijutsu to use. It is said to be called the **Menkan Shiyubi**(3) stance. It's used by focusing chakra into your fingertips, excluding the thumb. The user of the stance can then strike at their enemy, and the force of the blow, fused with chakra, is enough to deteriorate the area of the strike. If a huge amount of chakra is placed into the fingertips though..." He trailed off. Shikamaru raised an eyebrow.

"And..?" Lee continued, looking at Njaal.

"Then the attack will plow straight through the victim." The listeners gasped quietly, obviously shocked. Ino reacted first.

"We have to stop them then!" She was about to stand up when Neji held her down with a hand on her shoulder. She looked over to see that Neji had his Byakugan activated, and saw that he was shaking his head.

"Currently he has no chakra stored in his fingers, nor in his hand. We have nothing to worry about so far. They're just sparing." He stated, making everyone relax. Lee nodded.

"Yes, it's main use is for using chakra, but even without it, it delivers a powerful blow." They all looked out towards the two, curious as to what would happen.

------------------------------

Naruto smirked and charged at Njaal, who stood as still as a statue in his fighting pose. Naruto pulled out two kunai and launched them at his opponent, who still stood where he was. As the kunai came at him, he merely moved an inch in the right direction to avoid the incoming kunai. Naruto growled and leaped off the ground, flying down towards Njaal. As he came down on him, Njaal turned to face him, and spun quickly on the balls of his feet, using the momentum of the spin to launch his right arm out from his side and his four fingers, stuck together, at the enemy...only to hit nothing. Naruto was in front of him, his head tilted to his right, and Njaal's hand was past his head. A gash appeared on Naruto's left cheek, and the blood flowed down slowly. His eye twitched. Njaal had a look of pure shock.

"That was...a nice dodge, Naruto." He stated. Naruto grinned sheepishly at him.

"I know." He said. He then shoved Njaal's arm up and away with his left hand, retracting it quickly as Njaal focused chakra to that area and bones shot out quickly. Using that moment to place his attack, he quickly spun and stuck out his left foot, aiming to slam it into Njaal's head. But Njaal saw this coming and ducked quickly, and was surprised as Naruto lowered his hands to the ground as he bent down, using that and the ball of his right foot to maintain his spin. He saw the foot coming, which intended to trip him off of his feet, and quickly jumped while smirking. It didn't last long though, as Naruto STILL spun, pushing up with his hands and lowering his foot to the ground. Time seemed to slow down as Njaal's eyes widened, realizing what was going to happen, but realized it just a little too late. Naruto used the momentum of the last two spins he did, which were made to kick Njaal, and raised his fist up as he spun, bashing it into the side of Njaal's face. Njaal, who was still in the air from dodging Naruto's low kick, flew back and skidded along the ground until he stopped about fifteen feet away. He groaned in pain, his eyes closed, on the ground where he landed, until he felt someone by him. He opened his eyes to see Naruto to the side of him with a big grin on his face, and a kunai was in front of his (Njaal's) throat.

Njaal raised his hand up defensively, his other one laying beside him, and sighed.

"I give up, you won this one." He said, a bit of envy and joy in his voice. "But damn, that punch hurt like shit. That was a really nice maneuver there Naruto." He stated, making Naruto's grin widen.

"Eheheh, thanks Njaal. Your techniques are really good too." He said, still grinning while scratching the back of his head. He retracted the kunai and put it away, before moving a hand down for Njaal, who accepted it and was raised up to stand on his legs once again. Njaal released his hand and rubbed his cheek, the one that Naruto had punched, which made him wince.

"Damn, thank goodness for my bloodline. I think you broke a couple of facial bones with that punch, but those will be repaired in no time." He said, still rubbing his cheek. Naruto laughed nervously, still scratching the back of his head.

"Ah, eheh. Sorry about that. I guess I got carried away." He stated, embarrassed. Njaal shook his head.

"It's fine. That was a lot of fun." He smiled. Naruto nodded his agreement. Njaal then turned his head towards the forest behind them.

"Oi! You guys can come out now!"

Naruto was confused at what he meant, until he heard loud voices and saw the bushes moving. And out stepped the crew of the Rookie 9, minus Sakura still.

_'Still sleeping I suppose.'_ Naruto thought with a silent sigh. He looked to see the Rookie 9 approaching, obviously flustered at being found out, except for Neji, who had his normal expressionless look. Chouji took out a bag of chips and began munching. They stopped when they were a few feet away, all of them looking at the stranger. Njaal noticed they were all tense, as if expecting a battle. Hinata spoke up.

"N-N-Naruto-kun...w-who is that?" She stuttered out, looking at Njaal behind Naruto. Naruto blinked twice, before remembering that Njaal still didn't know any of his friends, and vica versa.

"Oh! Guys, this is Njaal. From the Bone Country. He's here to take the Chuunin Exam!" He said, grinning. He then remembered something. "Oh, yeah! Hinata! I talked to Tsunade-baa-chan yesterday and she said that you, me, and Njaal here will be on the same team for the Chuunin Exam! How cool is that?!" He nearly yelled, overflowing with excitement. Hinata had a small smile and a little blush on her cheeks as she saw how happy Naruto was. Njaal was looking at each of them, and was growing nervous as one by one, he saw that each of them were, in turn, looking at him. He sighed mentally.

This was going to be a long day.

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rawrrrrrr.

(1) Shadow Clone technique.

(2) Bone Chain.

(3) Four-finger Dismissal.

Remember to look for the next chapter! Should be up within a week. I'll start updating daily again.


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